Leadership and Management Skills for Engineers

Leadership Communication Skills: The Basics...

Communications Skills

To get their message across and really inspire others,
the best leaders possess great communication skills. Most engineers and
technicians in teams will have expertise in a given field. Many are creatures
of habit, typically trusting in years of training and experience, with an
inbuilt reluctance to change too radically. As such, leaders will sometimes
find themselves having to overcome this. Persuading technical professionals can
be challenging. A powerful combination of evidence-based demonstration and
effective communication is a good starting point. So what are the traits of a
leader with strong communication skills?

Leadership Communication Skills: The Importance of Listening...

Active
Listening

Listening - probably one of the most underrated
communicated skills there is. To listen effectively requires the ability to
concentrate on what others have to say. This may involve requesting opinions
from a range of perspectives, some of which may differ from yours. The ability
to listen well requires strong self-control – actively stopping yourself
interrupting and replying because you are itching to put your opinion across.
It requires keeping your feelings sufficiently under control, even when what
you are hearing is highly emotive. Also, letting the speaker finish ensures you
receive the whole complete message in the correct context.

Sounds obvious? Well
it’s amazing how many people don’t do it. Listen out for this at your next
meeting if you want proof! Listening to others will give a broader, more
balanced perspective. In turn, this provides you with the basis to make the
best decisions – a core skill for a leader.

Active listening involves being conscious about the purpose of your communication. What
is the message you want to deliver. What is it you want to hear from other
people? Be aware people tend to filter
information when they hear it – this is natural, but may affect the message
being communicated. To further explain, we tend to welcome and hear information
we agree with or we find welcome. The opposite is true, in that it is natural
to pay less attention to bad news or parts of the message we concur with less.

Listening to others includes other signals,
particularly when the conversation is face to face. Be aware of vocal signals
like tone and pitch which add
emphasis to particular parts of the message. In addition, body language and gestures provide you with information over and
above the words used. Eye contact is
important in conveying sincerity.

Leadership Communication Skills: How to Others to Listen to You...

Verbal
Communication

A good starting point with verbal communication is
clarity. When speaking, be clear about the message you want to deliver –
preferably before you to start speak! As a leader, ask yourself what is the message I would want my
audience to receive? Once you’ve considered this point, it really is a case
of constructing a clear message that conveys the key information you aim to get
across, in the best way. No waffle, no long yarns, instead the key points you
want to communicate.

Once these have been delivered, then you can consider
further explanation and other details. To enable this, some leaders tend to start
with the essential information, perhaps following this up with additional data,
before summarising with the main points again. Finally they checking the
audience are clear at the end.

Consider appropriate
language for the audience you are addressing. Again, it’s all about getting
your message across. For example, as an engineer you’ll want to use different
language to train a shop floor team, than you would for trying to convince the
board to financially back a new project. Adjust your language accordingly.

Other considerations include being aware of how fast you speak. Clarity diminishes
with speed. You know what you are about to say but obviously others don’t. So
slow down and emphasis key points to ensure others ‘get it’. Tone and pitch are
other verbal communication considerations to be aware of. Use these
appropriately to make your message interesting. Body language and gesturing
also help make verbal communication more human and memorable. Don’t overdo
them, but use them fittingly to help deliver a convincing message.

Aim to build
rapport with you audience. Mutual respect and understanding go a long way to
helping deliver an effective message. There are practical ways of building
rapport such as matching the tone, pace and body language of those you are
speaking to. Other tips include appropriate banter and jokes, as well as
smiling and nodding.

Practice what you preach and lead by example. Aim to actively
listen to those in your team, seeking and acting on feedback. Leaders need
to make it their priority to get out and about and talk to team members,
discussing issues, offering advice and generally being visible. Drive the activity
or project with your presence. Find out what’s going on and the mood of the
team at an operational level. Likewise, listening to others outside the team is
vital; such as other technical staff, suppliers and of course customers.

Being conscious of the points above is key to developing effective leadership communication skills. Once you have this awareness, it really is about frequently practicing, to refine your personal style.

In addition to the information listed here, please see
the Public Speaking section
for some first class advice. Public speaking is a particularly useful skill
with the potential to advance you career and employability. What’s more, it
goes hand-in-hand with leadership.

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